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Background Breast cancer is the most prevalent malignancy in the world. Endocrine therapy reduces the level of estrogen in vivo, thus affecting the blood lipid level, which reduces the quality of life and the treatment compliance of patients. Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription of hyperlipidemia in estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer patients during endocrine therapy in real world. Methods Based on method of retrospective study, a total of 238 patients with ER positive breast cancer who received endocrine therapy in Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 2012 to March 2022 were selected as the study subjects. The data including age, triglyceride, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, endocrine therapy drugs, TCM prescriptions of the patients were exported through the search platform of scientific research big data to establish a clinical data table of the patients. ER positive breast cancer patients with normal baseline blood lipid levels were divided into the normal group and dyslipidemia group according to the blood lipid levels during endocrine therapy, and hyperlipidemia was classified into hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia and mixed hyperlipidemia. The exported prescriptions were analyzed for frequency, four properties, five flavors, channel tropism and medication regularity by using the "prescription analysis", an auxiliary platform for TCM inheritance, to obtain new prescriptions. Results Among 238 ER positive breast cancer patients, 97 patients (40.8%) had normal baseline blood lipid levels, of whom 42 patients (205 person-time return visit) developed dyslipidemia during standardized endocrine therapy. Among the patients with dyslipidemia, 37.6% (77/205) occurred in the age group of 51 to 60 years as the highest number; 86 person-time with dyslipidemia received exemestane treatment, accounting for the highest proportion of 42.0%. Among the 42 patients with dyslipidemia (205 person-time return visit) , hyperlipidemia occurred in 99 person-time, and hypercholesterolemia occurred in 49.5% (49/99) . There was no statistically significance difference in the age of patients with three types of hyperlipidemia (P>0.05) . There were statistically significance differences in the proportion of endocrine therapy types among patients with three types of hyperlipidemia (P

Vitamin C (VC) and Vitamin B9 (VB9) are essential micronutrients integral to numerous biological functions and critical for maintaining human health. The rapid detection of these vitamins is important for verifying nutritional supplements and aiding in clinical diagnoses. This study combined terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) with metasurface technology to develop a fast, sensitive, and non-destructive detection method for VC and VB9. Firstly, we determined the characteristic absorption peaks and molecular vibration modes of VC and VB9 within the 0.5–4.0 THz range through quantum chemical calculation and THz-TDS measurement. Then, we designed and fabricated a metasurface biosensor to match its resonance peak with the communal peak of VC and VB9, enhancing the interaction between THz waves and these vitamins. Using this biosensor, we analyzed solutions with different concentrations of VC and VB9. An increase in vitamin concentrations resulted in frequency shifts in the THz resonance peak. Quantifiable relationships between frequency shifts and the vitamin concentrations were established. The detection limits achieved were 158.82 ng/µL for VC and 353.57 ng/µL for VB9, respectively. This method not only demonstrates high sensitivity but also simplifies the operational process, offering an innovative tool for applications in food safety monitoring and clinical diagnostics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ochratoxin A (OTA), which is highly toxic and carcinogenic, is easily produced in cereal crops, dry herbs, and other foods under improper storage. Traditional detection methods, including high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), can detect OTA accurately, but there are many problems such as long period, high cost, and poor reproducibility. Therefore, developing a rapid, non-destructive, and highly sensitive method for OTA detection is essential. In this paper, we used a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor combined with terahertz (THz) spectroscopy to quantify OTA. As a result, the concentration range of OTA in acetonitrile solution was up to 0–20 pg/μL, with a detection limit of 1 pg/μL, which can meet the requirements for OTA detection in most foods. Further, we applied this method to black tea, and the detection limit was up to 1 pg/mg, which is 500 times higher than UV spectrophotometry, and completely meets the EU regulations. This study shows that the combination of terahertz spectroscopy and an SPR biosensor is a promising approach to achieve a simple, rapid, and low-cost method for trace substance quantification in foods and drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We aimed to validate the predictive value of the cirrhosis, age, male sex, and diabetes (CAMD) score and age, albumin, sex, and liver cirrhosis (AASL) score for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients, treated with nucleos(t)ide analogues (NUCs) in Northeast China. Methods: From January 2009 to June 2020, 945 patients diagnosed with CHB who received NUC therapy at China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University were included. Comprehensive medical records were retrospectively analyzed, and the predictive values of the CAMD score and AASL score for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were evaluated. Results: A total of 58 patients (5.94%) were diagnosed with HCC. Multivariate analysis revealed that age [odds ratio (OR) = 1.041, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.009–1.073, P < 0.011] and cirrhosis (OR = 3.297, 95% CI 1.383–7.861, P < 0.007) were independent predictors of HCC. Either the CAMD or AASL score was significantly higher in the HCC group compared to the non-HCC group. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of CAMD and AASL was 0.721 (95% CI 0.663–0.780) and 0.718 (95% CI 0.662–0.774), respectively. Risk stratification using either CAMD or AASL revealed significant differences in the one-, three-, and five-year cumulative incidence rates of HCC between the low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups (all P < 0.001, log-rank test). Conclusions: Both CAMD and AASL scores have predictive value for HCC risk of CHB patients in Northeast China. In future, the optimal monitoring frequency and methods should be personalized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dripping agents are incorporated into polyethylene films to improve the hydrophility of the film surface and minimize the effects of fogging. A reactive‐type of dripping agent, 18,alkyl diethanolamine acrylic monoester (EDM), was synthesized and then grafted onto layered double hydroxides (LDHs) to delay its migration, which is due to the large size of LDHs. Then, the LDH‐g‐EDM compound was added to linear low‐density polyethylene (LLDPE), and dripping films were prepared for studying their properties. Mechanical properties, light transmission properties, elongational rheology properties, and thermal properties of LLDPE/EDM and LLDPE/LDHs‐g‐EDM films were determined. The contact angle of LLDPE/EDM film could reach 31.4° when the content of EDM was 2.0 wt%. Accelerated dripping experiments showed that the duration of dripping of the LLDPE/LDH‐g‐EDM film at 60 °C was prolonged to 18 days when the content of LDH was 0.6 wt% of the LLDPE matrix. This indicates that grafting EDM onto LDHs could delay its outward migration in LLDPE films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The severe challenges of the skyrocketing healthcare expenditure and the fast aging population highlight the needs for innovative solutions supporting more accurate, affordable, flexible, and personalized medical diagnosis and treatment. Recent advances of mobile technologies have made mobile devices a promising tool to manage patients’ own health status through services like telemedicine. However, the inherent limitations of mobile devices make them less effective in computation- or data-intensive tasks such as medical monitoring. In this study, we propose a new hybrid mobile-cloud computational solution to enable more effective personalized medical monitoring. To demonstrate the efficacy and efficiency of the proposed approach, we present a case study of mobile-cloud based electrocardiograph monitoring and analysis and develop a mobile-cloud prototype. The experimental results show that the proposed approach can significantly enhance the conventional mobile-based medical monitoring in terms of diagnostic accuracy, execution efficiency, and energy efficiency, and holds the potential in addressing future large-scale data analysis in personalized healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]